19 Jun Artistic Teams and Early Casting Announced for Festival!
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Playwrights Foundation Announces Artistic Teams and Full Festival Schedule for 40th Anniversary Bay Area Playwrights Festival
Desdemona Chiang, Evren Odcikin, Anthony Clarvoe & Becca Wolff among 12 stellar directors and dramaturgs team up with Festival artists.
Dan Hiatt, Adrian Roberts, Amin El Gamal, Sarita Ocon, Keiko Shimisato & Liam Vincent among 27 actors to join the festival acting company
June 13, 2017 (San Francisco) Playwrights Foundation, the West Coast’s premiere launchpad for exceptional emerging playwrights has named the artistic teams and daily schedule for the 40th Anniversary Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF). The 40th Anniversary Bay Area Playwrights Festival runs July 13 – 23, 2017 at Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street in the heart of San Francisco’s Theater District. In addition to twelve staged readings, the Festival will offer a Theater Professionals weekend 7/21-23, special events, and an anniversary celebration 7/13. Tickets at bayareaplaywrightsfestival.org.
This 40th anniversary BAPF incubates and showcases six newly written, unfinished works by an extraordinary group of culturally diverse, rising American playwrights who were selected from nearly 500 submissions. Playwrights Clarence Coo, Lauren Gunderson, Mona Mansour, Nilan Johnson, Hilary Bettis and Bennett Fisher will each develop new works, to be performed twice over the two week festival, and are paired with special events to be announced.
Confirmed directors for the festival are Desdemona Chiang, Susannah Martin, Evren Odcikin, Ken Savage, Tracy Ward, and Becca Wolff. Anthony Clarvoe, Nakissa Etemad, Sonia Fernandez, Regina Fields, Allie Moss, and Karen Piemme will serve as dramaturgs. Each are seasoned, acclaimed theater artists, deeply connected within the Bay Area community. Ms. Chiang most recently directed As You Like It at Cal Shakes, Evren Odickin of Golden Thread Productions recently directed Autobiography of a Terrorist and HeLa, Susannah Martin recently directed The Events at Shotgun Players,and Becca Wolff directed BAPF alumnae Jen Silverman’s The Roommate at the Playhouse. Ken Savage is the lead new play producer at A.C.T.’s Strand Theatre, recently launching its New Strands Festival, and Sonia Fernandez is the Magic Theater’s Associate Artistic Director.
Special Event: The Festival kick-offs with an Anniversary Celebration Thursday, July 13th at 6:30PM on the exclusive Rooftop Terrace at 343 Sansome St, San Francisco. The event, a benefit for Playwrights Foundation, features a sneak peek at the festival, special guests, including Obie Award-winning local playwright Chris Chen, this year’s playwrights, and alumni; cocktails; music; and lively conversation. Tickets are $20 – 100 and are available at bayareaplaywrightsfestival.org. Mechanics Bank is the event sponsor and host.
Artistic Teams and Schedule:
Clarence Coo: The Birds of Empathy
Friday July 14 at 8PM Sunday, July 23 at 1:30PM
Director: Ken Savage Dramaturg: Allie Moss
Audubon’s Birds of North America becomes a gay man’s guide to relationships and casual sex, opens and closes the Festival.
Lauren Gunderson: The Fatales
Saturday 7/15 at 12PM Saturday 7/22 at 8PM
Director: Tracy Ward Dramaturg Karen Piemme
An epic feminist pop crusade for a knowing justice, via musical defiance.
Nilan Johnson: Endangered Species
Saturday 7/15 at 4PM Saturday 7/22 at 4PM
Director Desdemona Chiang Dramaturg Regina Fields
An afro-surrealist futuristic legend in which blackness ceases to exist.
Hilary Bettis: Magic City
Saturday 7/15 at 8PM Saturday 7/22 at 12PM
Director: Susannah Martin Dramaturg: Anthony Clarvoe
An explosive elixir of power, class, and immigration status in a Spanish infused adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie.
Bennett Fisher: Damascus
Sunday, 7/16 at 1:30PM Friday, 7/21 at 4PM
Director: Becca Wolff Dramaturg: Nakissa Etemad
A high-stakes, road-rage thriller that delves full-force into the misguided politics of terrorism.
Mona Mansour: We Swim, We Talk, We Go To War
Sunday, 7/16 at 5:30PM Friday, 7/21 at 8PM
Director: Evren Odcikin Dramaturg: Sonia Fernandez
An Arab-American woman and her nephew dip into treacherous waters, presented in partnership with Golden Thread Productions.
Single ticket prices for the Festival range from $17-25. Multi-play Packages available are the VIP Pass, an all-access ticket to all 12 readings and 3-play Flex Passes from $50-90. Early Bird Pricing is in effect until June 20. For additional information on ticket offerings, please visit bayareaplaywrightsfestival.org.
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